The Cardinal Way
by Wood Elf luver
Summary: With Chris Carpenter, the happy go lucky pitcher who always brings smiles to the dugout gone due to an injury during Spring Training, Yadier Molina decides he needs to step up and bring a spark back into the players eyes, before he loses his spark as well.


This is just a short story I decided to write about my favorite baseball team ever, the St. Louis Cardinals! Even if you don't like baseball, I think by my reputation it won't matter, you'll either have your eyes popping out of your head or laughing or your head off. So...enjoy! :)

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It had been a really frustrating afternoon for Cardinal Nation, with the usually astounding Cardinals players seeming to lose their stride after a 7-3 loss to the Diamondbacks. The Cardinals fans, despite the loss, were celebrating on the streets. Through months of counting down the days from the offseason to Spring Training and then to Opening Day at Busch Stadium, the sport the city loved so much had finally returned!

But as for the players, Opening Day hadn't been quite as exciting as all of them had anticipated. Yadier Molina could feel the tension in the dugout, the normally loud and laughing teammates that he thought of as a second family strangely quiet throughout the game. Yadi himself was a bit uneasy, knowing that there was something, or rather, someone missing from the players sitting silently on the bench.

Chris Carpenter, the hope-arousing, confident, always smiling pitcher wasn't on the bench, nor was he in the dugout, no, he wasn't even in the stands. In Spring Training, Chris had injured his shoulder quite badly, and everyone knew that it could very well keep him out the entire season. Yadi couldn't stop the look of sadness that flicked across his face, but it was gone almost in an instant. His team needed him, they looked up to him, and Yadi knew he had to be strong for them.

After the game had ended and the players had said good night and the locker room had been closed off until the next evening, Yadi stepped onto the diamond one last time before he left. Yadi scanned his eyes through the stands that were usually filled with many cheering Cardinals fans but were now empty. The lights that had lit up the giant stadium had gone off, which left him standing alone in the dark, but Yadi didn't notice as he walked from base to base slowly.

Yadi closed his eyes, letting his mind drift off, something he didn't do too often on the field, his focus always on the game. But right now, there wasn't any screaming fans, a baseball to catch, or a game to play. When Yadi reached home plate once again, he looked down at the ruts in the dust behind the plate, ruts that he had dug over the years. Crouching down into the position he normally took, his gaze traveled the stadium that fit 40,000 or more and was filled everyday that the Cardinals played.

Through the darkness of the night, he could see the Arch from where he was sitting, the small gap in the center of the stadium standing out, the brightness from the city lights traveling through the open space and shining slightly on center field. Though through the quiet of the night, not counting the traffic that he could hear despite being in the gigantic stadium, Yadier felt as if the whole city of St. Louis was resting on his shoulders. Yadi opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them again in the first place, and brought a hand up to rub his forehead tiredly.

Yadi knew that this team needed a leader, someone to step up while Chris was gone and take charge. Though Mike Matheny, the Cardinals manager, was great at his job, it seemed that his attempts to cheer up the team wasn't exactly enough to get the players jumping around, or throwing sunflower seeds at each other, laughing and having a good time, which used to be their only rule, to have fun playing the game they all so dearly loved. His heart sunk slightly and he let out a soft sigh as he realized that, even though he wasn't really sure how, all of the other players, and even Matheny expected him, the catcher the city of St. Louis knew and loved so much, to lead their team through the season.

He remembered something Carpy had told him the year before, after a devastating loss to the San Francisco Giants that forced them out of the playoffs. Yadi had been sitting on a bench in the locker room, head in his hands as the blow of the loss completely hit him. Chris had been sitting next to him, though with his head held high, unlike the down-trodden, low-spirited players all around him. Yadi had looked up and asked him why, why did he not look upset about the loss but instead he looked as if they had just won the World Series for the second year in a row? Chris had simply smiled and said, "Why not?"

Why not? Yadi realized he didn't completely understand what his friend had been saying at the time, but it had taken all of Spring Training, watching Chris and the way he played, until the understanding of his statement slapped him completely in the face. Now, as Yadier sat there, thinking on it, he began to smile. A smile that was usually hidden behind a catcher's mask and was rarely seen, but everyone knew was there.

Why not be a leader when your team needs one, he thought to himself. Why not step outside of your comfort zone for the team and for the love of baseball? Why not bring a smile to everyone's face when there is nothing to smile about?

Yadi dropped from his crouching position, which had begun to hurt his legs from sitting there so long without getting up, and onto his knees. He took another look around the the stadium, smiling as he whispered to no one in particular, "Get ready, St. Louis, because this is going to be a ride that you don't want to miss."

Getting up, Yadi walked out of the stadium, glancing back at the entrance once before heading to the parking lot.

Though no one else was to be found inside of the stadium, the feeling of renewed hope and determination filled the air, which is just what the Gateway City felt the next night as Yadier Molina came up to bat, the team trailing by one in the ninth, two outs, Matt Carpenter on first and a jubilant crowd cheering, "Yadi! Yadi! Yadi!" Drowning out the sounds of the fans, Yadi let his mind focus on nothing but the pitcher and the glove that was carefully concealing the baseball. The first two pitches were outside and low, until the pitcher finally threw the pitch the umpire was looking for, on the outside corner. "Strike!" called the umpire, and the crowd booed a little before cheering loudly for the pitcher to throw the next pitch.

This one was right down the middle, and Yadi silently cursed. Closing his eyes, Yadi thought of Chris, about the team, about the fans behind him who he could only faintly hear cheering his name, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought, do it for them. Suddenly, Yadi's eyes shot open, and all he focused on was the ball as it flew from the pitcher's hand.

Yadi took a deep breath, and the world seemed to stand still as the bat connected with the ball, and from the moment he felt the lightly familiar vibration coming from the wooden bat as he and his whole team watched the ball soar, Yadi knew he had saved the game.

Yadi was halfway to second before he heard the fireworks go off, signaling the win and the homerun he had hit to the deepest part of center field. The crowd roared with excitement and as Yadi rounded third to home, his teammates and coaches waiting eagerly there to congratulate him and celebrate the last-second turn of events, Yadi smiled before being completely pulled into the crowd of players who were smiling for the first time since Chris got injured.

David Freese bear hugged him before Carlos Beltran started throwing sunflower seeds at him. Waino came up and they did their famous handshake, and Bengie Molina, his brother who was the batting coach for the team, patted him on the back as the rest of the team seemed to come alive, as if a spark had been lit. Soon, they were all in the locker room, laughing and joking around, and Jon Jay came up behind Yadi, spilling the rest of the water on top of him. It was freezing cold, but when he saw how the rest of the guys laughed even harder, a new twinkle in their eyes, Yadi sighed happily. Now THIS was the Cardinal way.

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Wood Elf luver: I know, I know, it wasn't as good as it could've been. Well, at least, that's what i think. Review to tell me what y'all think, was it bad or was it good? Read and review, and I'll try to update the others soon! TTYL! :)


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